Promoting Active Engagement with Text-Based Resources in Large First-Year Modules in History

In large courses it can be particularly challenging to engage students in active reading practices. The shift over the last decade to the use of digital sources, and during the pandemic the adoption of online teaching, has further exacerbated the problem. In this paper, we discuss our strategies for engaging large classes (150-250 students) in active reading through use of Talis Elevate, a social annotation tool. We outline two case studies in which we used social annotation and observed a significant increase in student engagement. We propose a new concept, 'active online reading' , which combines structured individual commenting tasks with responding to other students' annotations to enhance learning. This concept has relevance not only in our reading-rich discipline of History but also across higher education more generally

Active Online Reading

This report is an output from a Collaborative Enhancement Project supported and funded by QAA Membership. The project is led by the University of Lincoln in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University, Talis, UCL, the University of Nottingham, and the University of Salford

Circular Single-Stranded DNA Virus (Microviridae: Gokushovirinae: Jodiemicrovirus) Associated with the Pathobiome of the Flat-Back Mud Crab, Eurypanopeus depressus

A single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) virus is presented from a metagenomic data set derived from Alphaproteobacteria-infected hepatopancreatic tissues of the crab Eurypanopeus depressus. The circular virus genome (4,768 bp) encodes 14 hypothetical proteins, some similar to other bacteriophages (Microviridae). Based on its relatedness to other Microviridae, this virus represents a member of a novel genus.Joyner Open Access Publishing Support Fun

Reading through the Pandemic: Promoting Active Digital Engagement with Text-Based Resources

This small-scale study highlights some of the challenges faced teaching first-year undergraduate History students during the Covid-19 pandemic in the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years and outlines the strategies that were put in place to address them. The article describes how Talis Elevate, an online tool that enables students to engage actively and collaboratively with digitised readings, was deployed across a range of first-year modules in History at the University of Lincoln. Feedback from staff and students is analysed, alongside user data collected by the Talis Elevate tool. The article demonstrates that a structured approach to engaging students in online reading tasks in preparation for class functioned effectively as a driver for student learning, but that some of the issues associated with engaging students in face-to-face teaching spaces, such as the reluctance of some students to contribute to discussion, were replicated online

Association of Perfluoroalkyl Substances, Bone Mineral Density, and Osteoporosis in the U.S. Population in NHANES 2009-2010

Background Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), including perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonic acid (PFHxS), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA), are detectable in the serum of 95% of the U.S. population. Objective Considering the role of PFASs as endocrine disruptors, we examined their relationships with bone health. Methods The association between serum PFAS concentration and bone mineral density at total femur (TFBMD), femoral neck (FNBMD), lumbar spine (LSBMD), and physician-diagnosed osteoporosis was assessed in 1,914 participants using data from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey 2009–2010. Results The mean age of the participants was 43 years. Men had higher serum PFAS concentrations than women (p < 0.001) except for PFNA. In both sexes, serum PFOS concentrations were inversely associated with FNBMD (p < 0.05). In women, significant negative associations were observed for natural log (ln)–transformed PFOS exposure with TFBMD and FNBMD, and for ln-transformed PFOA exposure with TFBMD (p < 0.05). In postmenopausal women, serum PFOS was negatively associated with TFBMD and FNBMD, and PFNA was negatively associated with TFBMD, FNBMD, and LSBMD (all p < 0.05). With one log unit increase in serum PFOA, PFHxS, and PFNA, osteoporosis prevalence in women increased as follows: [adjusted odds ratios (aORs)] 1.84 (95% CI: 1.17, 2.905), 1.64 (95% CI: 1.14, 2.38), and 1.45 (95% CI: 1.02, 2.05), respectively. In women, the prevalence of osteoporosis was significantly higher in the highest versus the lowest quartiles of PFOA, PFHxS, and PFNA, with aORs of 2.59 (95% CI: 1.01, 6.67), 13.20 (95% CI: 2.72, 64.15), and 3.23 (95% CI: 1.44, 7.21), respectively, based on 77 cases in the study sample. Conclusion In a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, serum PFAS concentrations were associated with lower bone mineral density, which varied according to the specific PFAS and bone site assessed. Most associations were limited to women. Osteoporosis in women was also associated with PFAS exposure, based on a small number of cases

Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial

Background: Tranexamic acid reduces surgical bleeding and reduces death due to bleeding in patients with trauma. Meta-analyses of small trials show that tranexamic acid might decrease deaths from gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to assess the effects of tranexamic acid in patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. Methods: We did an international, multicentre, randomised, placebo-controlled trial in 164 hospitals in 15 countries. Patients were enrolled if the responsible clinician was uncertain whether to use tranexamic acid, were aged above the minimum age considered an adult in their country (either aged 16 years and older or aged 18 years and older), and had significant (defined as at risk of bleeding to death) upper or lower gastrointestinal bleeding. Patients were randomly assigned by selection of a numbered treatment pack from a box containing eight packs that were identical apart from the pack number. Patients received either a loading dose of 1 g tranexamic acid, which was added to 100 mL infusion bag of 0·9% sodium chloride and infused by slow intravenous injection over 10 min, followed by a maintenance dose of 3 g tranexamic acid added to 1 L of any isotonic intravenous solution and infused at 125 mg/h for 24 h, or placebo (sodium chloride 0·9%). Patients, caregivers, and those assessing outcomes were masked to allocation. The primary outcome was death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation; analysis excluded patients who received neither dose of the allocated treatment and those for whom outcome data on death were unavailable. This trial was registered with Current Controlled Trials, ISRCTN11225767, and ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01658124. Findings: Between July 4, 2013, and June 21, 2019, we randomly allocated 12 009 patients to receive tranexamic acid (5994, 49·9%) or matching placebo (6015, 50·1%), of whom 11 952 (99·5%) received the first dose of the allocated treatment. Death due to bleeding within 5 days of randomisation occurred in 222 (4%) of 5956 patients in the tranexamic acid group and in 226 (4%) of 5981 patients in the placebo group (risk ratio [RR] 0·99, 95% CI 0·82–1·18). Arterial thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction or stroke) were similar in the tranexamic acid group and placebo group (42 [0·7%] of 5952 vs 46 [0·8%] of 5977; 0·92; 0·60 to 1·39). Venous thromboembolic events (deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism) were higher in tranexamic acid group than in the placebo group (48 [0·8%] of 5952 vs 26 [0·4%] of 5977; RR 1·85; 95% CI 1·15 to 2·98). Interpretation: We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial

Collaborative Annotation to Support Students’ Online Reading Skills

Lecturers in the School of History and Heritage at the University of Lincoln (UK) were early adopters of Talis Elevate, an online tool that facilitates the collaborative annotation of media (e.g., text, images, video), engaging with the technology since September 2018. The online annotation tool was predominantly used to develop undergraduate students’ skills in reading text. When the closure of the University of Lincoln campus was announced on March 16, 2020, all teaching shifted entirely to online methods. Building on the insights gained from early adopters from September 2018 to March 2020, the online annotation tool was promoted as a valuable method for supporting the development of core disciplinary skills. During lockdown, academics deployed the tool to enable students to engage in activities that promoted practices of “deep reading” and source analysis that would normally be the focus of in-class activity. These approaches, as has been observed of active reading in general, help students work through material at their own pace and revisit content they do not understand ( Dubas & Toledo, 2015 ). Beyond its ability to support the core disciplinary skill of engaging actively with sources, the online annotation tool was judged to be particularly effective for two main reasons. First, it is easy to set up and use with students – the “startup” costs are therefore relatively low. Second, it can be used to support both synchronous and asynchronous teaching. Prior to lockdown, seven modules in the school were making active use of the online annotation tool. Following a training and onboarding eff ort early in lockdown, 16 modules had used the tool by the end of the academic year (June 2020). March 2020 witnessed a doubling of the number of active modules